Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series

by Randileigh Kennedy

  “Is that a tattoo?” I asked as Griffin took his spot opposite me in the pool. “What is it?”

  Griffin half turned his body so I could see the music notes and the script he had under his arm near the side of his rib cage. I couldn’t read the words from where I stood. “I was nineteen,” he said, shrugging. “My dad told me not to, so it seemed like the perfect response.” Griffin turned back to face me. “What about you? Do you have any?”

  “No, no father rebellion issues for me. I don’t think I ever really thought about getting one before. I don’t know that there’s anything in my life I would feel strongly enough about to put permanently on my body, you know?” I replied, shrugging. “So don’t make that one of our escapades. I wouldn’t do it,” I said, splashing water in his direction.

  For the next thirty minutes or so, the conversation came easily. We snacked on the food he brought and quickly made it through the bottle of wine. We devoured the chocolate cake, and Griffin gushed about how talented Mallory was. We talked a little bit about the bakery and how I was surprised by how much I enjoyed working there, despite the fact that I really hadn’t baked much of anything before. Mallory was so much fun to work with and the decorating came easy to me, a talent I clearly never knew I possessed until the day I met her.

  “You look a little flush. Are you getting hot?” Griffin asked, reaching out to tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear. “Are you ready for a cool down?”

  “Yes, I feel like I’m cooking my organs. It is a little warm in here,” I replied. “What’s the cool down?” I looked up at him quizzically.

  “Well, the sun is almost down so the temperature is dropping quite a bit. We’ll have to be fast. Are you ready?” Griffin asked, standing up in the water. “Will you follow me?” he asked with a shy smile. He reached his hand out to me. “It would be better if we ran.”

  I reached up, grabbed his hand, and followed him as he moved swiftly out of the water. Instead of turning towards the towels, Griffin quickly led me the other direction, over some dried up dirt and up over a tiny hill. On the other side of the hill there was a small pond.

  “Come on, quick,” he said, smiling at me. In one swift motion he scooped me up and ran down the small hill, setting me down next to a large tree near the edge of the pond. “Ready?” he said, reaching up into the branches. He pulled out a large knotted rope that was tied on to one of the huge branches hanging over the water.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I squealed, feeling half exited and half crazy. “How on earth would you know that was there?”

  Without another word, Griffin ran a few feet back with the rope. He grabbed as high as he could, took a few leaps, and launched himself up in to the air. Seconds later he landed in the water, creating a huge splash. I shook my head, laughing at just how crazy this guy was.

  “Come on!” he yelled, motioning me into the water as he swung the rope back up to me. Despite my better judgment, I caught the rope on the first swing, which was a miracle in itself. I shook my head, stepped back a few feet, and ran towards the water.

  “Eeeek!” I screamed as I let go, plunging into the cold water of the pond. As I surfaced, the ground felt sludgy, and I could feel tiny strands of slime gathering around my calves. “Oh my gosh, I need to get out of here!” I screeched.

  Griffin laughed and grabbed my waist, pulling me to the edge of the pond. We quickly jogged back to the hot spring and dunked ourselves in. I immediately felt a sensation like I was being stabbed with pins and needles all over my body, which somehow made me feel rejuvenated and alive.

  Griffin grinned and I threw my head back, laughing at the burning sensation pulsing through my body. Griffin reached out his arm and put his right hand on my hip. I took a step towards him, unable to turn my gaze away from his penetrating eyes.

  In that instant two small headlights appeared, shining in our faces. “Sorry folks,” came an older voice from a small all-terrain type vehicle. “Park’s closed, it’s eight o’clock. We have to ask you to pack up.” Griffin nodded at the gentleman who in return tipped his park ranger hat in our direction. We climbed out of the pool and each grabbed a towel. The ranger didn’t budge, so we quickly threw on our clothes over our wet swimsuits and packed up the cooler. We turned to head back down the path to Griffin’s car. The ranger finally moved his vehicle further up the path to the last hot spring to check for any other visitors.

  When we got back to the car, Griffin laid the towels down on the seats. Our clothes were already soaked through from our wet suits. We both smiled at each other.

  “Do you want to stop somewhere and change?” he asked politely. “I feel so bad we didn’t get a chance to dry off. Time just kind of got away from me,” he said, holding my car door as I got in.

  “Don’t worry about it. My clothes are already soaked,” I replied. “Your plan worked though, I do feel rejuvenated and youthful,” I added coyly.

  “Good, that’s what I was hoping for,” he responded, gently shutting my door.

  Damn, what was happening? There was this electricity I felt every time Griffin looked at me. He was one of the ‘guys’ though, one of the group, so I wasn’t sure this would ever go anywhere. Just a nice guy, trying to show the new girl a good time.

  “So what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Are you going to let me in on any of this?” I asked.

  “No,” Griffin smirked.

  I sat back in my seat, smiling. “So what does it say on your tattoo? I didn’t really see it, is it a quote or something?”

  “Just a song lyric,” Griffin replied, shaking his head. “Probably cliché for a guy who plays guitar, I know. But I write a lot of songs, and it just seemed poetic to me at the time. Probably a stupid thing to do, but it was one of those moments where I felt so alive, you know? Like I couldn’t possibly be making a bad decision. Probably a stupid thing to do,” Griffin repeated, looking over at me with a shrug.

  “Are you going to tell me what it says?” I asked.

  “Guess you’ll have to read it sometime,” Griffin smirked.

  My cheeks felt flush. I turned up the radio, hoping he wouldn’t notice. My mind wandered on the way back, thinking of everything that had happened over the last few weeks. This new life I started felt so distant from the one I had been living prior to my move.

  “So the night I met you,” Griffin began, “out on Johnny’s patio, you referenced ‘one of my dads’ as if you have a few. What’s up with that?”

  Oh no, personal questions. The exact thing I’m always trying to avoid. This was going to be an awkward car ride.

  “Oh, I just, well my father had a mishap with the law when I was six, so my mom eventually remarried. She passed away a few years later, and I had a few other families I lived with. I got jumbled around a little bit I guess, nothing crazy,” I said trying to sound casual about it, but realizing that was not really a common explanation. I was hoping to skim over most of the specifics. I hadn’t known Griffin nearly long enough to give the full explanation of everything.

  “So you moved around a lot? Like with relatives?” Griffin asked politely, trying to understand what I was actually saying.

  “Not exactly. I didn’t really have an extended family, not one I knew of anyway. But I was led to some good people, and eventually I was sent to a really good school. So yeah, essentially I had some adults in my life, obviously. Several sets of moms and dads I guess, people looking out for me. But really, I guess you could say I’ve been on my own for quite awhile. Not one specific mom or dad to give all the credit to, I guess…” my voice trailed off.

  “I’m sorry Addie, we really don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. I’m just still trying to get to know you. Trying to find out where you’ve been all this time, that’s all,” Griffin said softly.

  “It’s okay, I understand. Mallory is always asking me questions too. But it’s hard, you know, spending so much of your life trying to forget something, but yet that is the very thing people want to kn
ow about you,” I replied sincerely. “Maybe we can just save all this for another time? I can’t scare you away on day two, or it will be a long week for you,” I added, smiling.

  Griffin nodded his head. “Say no more, I get it. The group is always asking me questions about my relationship with my dad. As you probably noticed, that’s a sore subject with me so I’m not exactly forthcoming with all of that either. We can keep it simple, and then maybe one drunken night you can reveal all your secrets.” Griffin smiled mischievously.

  “Fair enough,” I replied, comforted by the fact that I never drank nearly enough to give anything away.

  The rest of the way home Griffin played some more of his favorite music, explaining what he loved about every song as it came on. The lights of downtown sparkled, and I smiled at the welcome feeling of it, as if this new place was actually starting to feel like home for me. I could certainly get used to evenings like this, jumping from trees and laughing like teenagers. Although I really had to admit, the better part of the evening was more likely Griffin in nothing but swim shorts. By the time we pulled into my apartment complex, I looked over to see Griffin staring at me.

  “You look like you’re in deep thought,” he said quietly.

  “Just thinking about the bakery and everything we’ve been doing there. We’ve been working really hard on it,” I lied. I obviously couldn’t tell him I was still thinking of his tattoo, or more specifically, his chiseled shirtless chest. “Mallory is amazing. She was meant to do it, to bake, own her own bakery.” My voice trailed off and I felt flustered.

  “What about you, what were you meant to do?” he asked, his eyes penetrating mine.

  “That’s just it, I have no idea,” I responded, shaking my head. “I feel like I’ve just been drifting through time. I thought one day I would just wake up and realize that one single thing I was supposed to do the rest of my life, you know?”

  Griffin shook his head in agreement. “At least you have the freedom to figure it out. My dad never gave me that option. I had to join the family business. I tried to fight it once, actually.” He ran a hand through his perfectly messy thick dark hair. “One summer when I was nineteen, it was my dare to tell my father how I felt. I didn’t exactly use my words though, I just left. I took off. I took my guitar, a few changes of clothes, and like a thousand bucks. I went to L.A. and thought I could pick up a few music gigs and that I could just play my guitar and be something on my own. It was pretty terrible. That city swallowed me up. Within five weeks I came back, defeated, having to face my father. That’s when I got the tattoo by the way, one night in L.A., after one of my first shows.”

  I nodded, listening intently.

  “I still remember that night. I was on top of the world. Somehow I stumbled into the right nightclub, even though I wasn’t even old enough to be in there. An opening act didn’t show up, so they let me play a few songs. Somehow in that moment, I thought it was my moment, you know? Like all those people were there to see what I could do. But that was it, just one good night. One night that makes you feel like you’re on top of the world, like you did something so right, as if that single moment is enough to change anything.” Griffin shrugged his shoulders. “Then the next morning you wake up in your dingy, studio apartment with an infected tattoo on your side and not enough money to even buy breakfast.” Griffin shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Addie, I didn’t mean to keep rambling about all that.”

  “I would have come to see you play a show,” I replied, smiling.

  “Yeah right, you’ve never even been to a concert before. You never would have found me. Not in the places I was playing,” Griffin said, placing a hand on top of mine on his center console in his car. “But you heard Steve, he’s going to force me to play. So it appears you’ll get to hear me after all.”

  My hand felt warm with his on top of it and I felt like I couldn’t move. I felt like all the air was being sucked out of the car.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to buzz kill our night with all of that. It’s a melancholy story, I know. Can I walk you to your door?” Griffin asked politely.

  “Oh no, I mean, you could, but your pants are soaked,” I replied, pointing to the water marks all the way down to his knees. We both laughed. “I imagine I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  Griffin nodded and removed his hand from on top of mine. I hesitated, wanting to say something. I wanted to change my mind about the walk to my door, but I couldn’t seem to retract it. My mind went blank. I nodded and exited the car, making my way up to my apartment door.

  As soon as I stepped inside, I cursed myself once again for the awkward end to the evening. I just felt so conflicted about what was happening. Griffin was so demonstrative with Megan and Mallory, always hugging them and kissing them on the cheek. So the mere thought of him touching the top of my hand, surely that was something insignificant, right? But the warmth of even the slightest touch from him surged through me, Somehow my brain failed me in those moments, and I felt as though I never knew how to react.

  I tossed and turned all night, replaying the evening over and over in my head. One minute he was so carefree, jumping into the freezing pond with the joy of a little kid. Then later he’s having an emotional conversation with me about his father and his failed attempt to make a choice other than the life apparently laid out for him. I wished I had known him then, back when he was trying to make that decision. But why, what would have been different for him even if I had known him back then? Even his friends’ persuasion seemed to pale in comparison to the relationship Griffin had with his dad.

  I laid there wondering if I would like Griffin’s father. Sure, he sounded intense, but he must care strongly for his son too. It sounded like his dad genuinely wanted him to be involved with the family business. He must care about his son a great deal to want to work with him day in and day out. Controlling, yes, but I never had anyone who loved me enough to make any decisions for me.

  I finally drifted off into a deep sleep, forcing all thoughts of Griffin as anything other than a friend far out of my mind.

  Chapter 8

  The next morning I felt hazy when my alarm went off, despite the fact that I had gone to bed at a decent hour the night before. I really hadn’t gotten home that late, although getting to sleep took longer than usual for me since I couldn’t shut off my thoughts. I took a quick shower, threw on some leggings and a short sleeved sweater dress, and tied my hair into a loose chignon. As I walked into the kitchen to grab a banana for breakfast, I noticed an envelope on the table. Day 3 was written on the outside of the envelope. How did this get inside my apartment? I looked around the dimly lit room, suddenly feeling a little freaked out by the thought that someone could have been in my apartment without me knowing. The only rational thought I could formulate was that Griffin must have thrown it on my kitchen table yesterday when I went to grab my swimsuit.

  I tore open the envelope. Inside was a note with a ticket attached to it, which read Admit One, County Fair. I read the note. Day Three: It’s not bungee jumping if you’re in a metal cart. See you at 6:00 p.m. - G. The county fair? I’m pretty sure I went to those when I was younger, I must have. Corn dogs, funnel cakes, and of course teenagers puking in trash cans either from alcohol or upside down roller coasters.

  As usual, Mallory was already at the bakery when I arrived. “So, the fair tonight,” she said excitedly as we began to work.

  “So you do know about the messages I get?” I remarked, looking for more information.

  “Honestly, not really. I just knew we were all going tonight, so I guess I knew about that part,” she said, clasping her hands together. “So, what’s going on with you guys? It’s not getting weird or anything, is it?”

  Well, a moment ago I was excited to be spending another night with Griffin. I hated that my mood changed when I found out we wouldn’t be alone.

  “Oh no, we’re just friends. Obviously,” I said, sounding a bit too cavalier. “I mean, it’s not like these are dates or anyth
ing. He’s just showing me around, taking me new places. It’ll be even more fun tonight with the whole group,” I sputtered, trying to sound more convincing.

  “Then where were you last night?” Mallory asked, insinuating I had a juicy story for her.

  “He took me to the hot springs up in Loganville. It was really nice. We only spent a few hours together. Like, three hours to be exact, so it’s not like it was some drawn out thing, Mal,” I said, trying to quell her thoughts about why these adventures weren’t what she thought they were. “He’s really nice, as you know, and we’re just hanging out. It’s no big deal.”

  “Hey, I’m just saying this is a little unusual, that’s all. Griffin doesn’t just ‘hang out’ really, not alone with people. Lately Steve can barely even get him to do anything. He’s either working or we have to coax him out just to spend a few hours with us, that’s all I’m getting at. It’s just really nice that it seems like he’s slowing down a little,” Mallory said, pulling out the order sheet for what we would be working on today.

  “Hey, it’s just a dare. Maybe he is just making his best effort so I can get my name out of the box so he can be done with it, who knows,” I replied, reaching for one of the mixers.

  “We’ll see about that, Addie,” Mallory responded, shaking her head as if she didn’t believe me.

  Work went by quickly since we only had a few desserts to make for one of the retirement homes in the area. It was a simple job. After we dropped off the order, we went out to lunch and did a little accessory shopping. We each got a few new pairs of earrings and a couple bracelets. Mallory was obsessed with having pieces of jewelry to go with everything she wore. It amazed me how she could pull off any outfit from top to bottom, all coordinated to a tee. When we were finished we went back to my place that evening to get ready for the night. Mallory had brought over another bag of clothes for me to try on.